I want to be an L&D nurse, and I get mixed reactions from those I talk to about it. We'll see. It's been done before.

I'm not sure what further training and education one needs to become a midhusband. Once I graduate and pass the nclex, I'll look into it. One thing at a time right now.

ND

NurseDaddy,

I am currently an RN in the Neonatal ICU, and I LOVE it. I never thought in a million years I'd be working with 500 gram preemies, but here I am a relatively new grad learning this cool specialty. I don't know if you have done your L&D rotation, or even get a chance to go to NICU for a day or 2 [I spent a week of my practicum there], but my job encompasses the cool parts of critical care and L&D. The RN's on my floor attend all high risk [<35wk >40 wk, meconium, decels, c-sections, etc] deliveries, and are solely responsible for the baby[ies] once they're born. You and a resp therapist can be present for a 24 weeker delivery, resuscitate in the delivery room, transport back to NICU, put in umbilical, arterial and central lines [yes, we can do that] possibly resuscitate again....counsel distraught parents, actively manage the care of 2 critical patients, etc, and come back and do it again the next day, maybe with twins! So often the L&D nurses are sitting around waiting for mom to deliver, only to have us have to come manage the baby anyway. Yet we get an awesome critical care aspect. [we also can do air/ambulance transports] I always thought I'd be an ER/ICU nurse, but never NICU. 1 DAY in the nicu changed my mind. You can be saving a baby's life one minute, and get to hold a scrappy little baby while teaching it how to eat for the first time in months. Think about it! Maybe you can spend a day in a NICU.....it sure changed my mind!!!

So often the L&D nurses are sitting around waiting for mom to deliver, only to have us have to come manage the baby anyway.

I know you probably don't mean that how it sounded, but I just have to say the L&D nurses aren't sitting around waiting for mom to deliver anymore than NICU nurses play with babies all day. I've worked both and heard both of those types of comments and they couldn't be farther from the truth:chuckle

OT, but our NICU nurses don't put in umb. lines and they wouldn't be at a 24 week delivery with only an RT unless the doc was just late... I like it that way myself:chuckle

I would be very uncomfortable with a male L&D nurse or midwife -- as would my fiance(well, once we're married). To be fair, though, this is also true of MD's, and I try to avoid having male doctors.

I could be wrong, but I think that a midwife has a much closer relationship with her patient than a doc does, and that's why people have trouble conceiving of a male midwife.

I have to agree with gaijingal. But, that is my personal preference, I know I have always asked for a woman doctor, and am currently seeing a midwife. When I was giving birth to my second, I was asked if a male student could come in and observe, and I said no.
My sister, on the other hand, didn't care who was in the room when she gave birth, she said she had quite a few students in observing, and she always chose a male doctor.

I would have no problem with a male midwife/L&D nurse. I have always seen male doctors, although the practice I used most recently had female doctors/midwives as well. I don't think the appropriate anatomy for childbearing necessarily means one would make a better L&D nurse or midwife. For me, it's all about the nurses skill and compassion.

That being said, if you do decide to go this route, I am sure there will be times when patients are not as open to a male caregiver in this situation. But, if you are a midwife, you would have contact with your patients during prenatal care, so it wouldn't exactly be a surprise.

my OB doc was a male. i also had the choice of a female midwife who showed absolutely no compassion so i went with the male doc. my husband adored him because he really involved him. although i am the one who endured 7 months of vomiting and 41 1/2 hours of labor, my doc made it feel as though my husband and i were both pregnant.
go for it!!!!!!!!!!

Men have been physicians for years, so why not be a midwife/husband. What do we have on our physical bodies that they haven't seen anyway? Perhaps delivering babies, and helping moms through the laboring process will make them more sensitive and appreciative towards their own wives in giving birth. Bring them on....the more the merrier.

This subject has recently come up in one of my classes. One of the guys was already spitting mad that a patient MIGHT refuse him as their L&D nurse -- we're in the first term, this is just an idea in his head, not even a reality. Anyhow, it sparked two class discussions, during which two different profs declared that for a woman to ask not to have a male L&D nurse was "not acceptable" and "wrong."

Huh? One of those profs had just told us it was appropriate for a patient (or a nurse) to request a switch, if the patient and the nurse just didn't "connect" -- because the nurse/client relationship is especially close is this situation. Moreover, we're having "culturally sensitive care" beaten into us.

Ok, I don't want a male nurse because a) we don't "connect" and b) my culture says it's not ok for a man other than my husband to help my naked self in and out of a hot tub.

Are you telling my I'm "wrong" and my cultural beliefs are "Not acceptable"?

White people have culture too, you know...and not just the athlete's foot kind.

As a 22 year old female, who hasn't had kids. I really wouldn't mind having a male L&D nurse or midwife. I had the same primary care doctor for 21 years (he even delivered me when I was born) and when he retired, I switched to another male doctor.

For a lot of people, I don't think gender is an issue. As long as your good, caring, and really enjoy what your doing, you'll do awesome.